World of Poetry

The World of Poetry is an interactive and intimate part of the Richmond World Festival. A line-up of many well recognized, witty and entertaining poets will keep your fingers snapping with their cunning word play and hearts throbbing with their stories. Get ready to listen to spoken word by artists with lightning fast words on the Global Village Stage, at the library, and as part of the PopUp Poet team.

Andrew Warner

Andrew Warner has written and performed his own work since the age of nine. In poetry slams he has won provincial and national competitions, released two collections of poetry and produced a new short film about Bipolar Disorder featured on his clowning, spoken weird group’s YouTube channel: The Tiny Tricycle Poets. Andrew hopes you’ll wake up to watch the sunrise, wear pyjamas to the office, and build free-standing Ikea desks sans-screws after experiencing his stand-up poetry style.

Angelica Poversky

Angelica Poversky is at times a silver tongued enthusiast, peanut admirer, egg ponderer and pee straddler. She loves spoken word poetry and believes in manipulating language to make the intangible, tangible. Devoting her brain to contemplating social issues and the limits of imagination, Angelica has performed at events like the Voice Against Violence Against Women Conference, The Vancouver Earth Day Parade, Top 25 under 25 Canadian Environmentalists and TedXYouth. Angelica is Vancouver’s Top 24 under 24, Richmond’s 30 under 30 and a Richmond Arts Award Winner. Recently she released her own chapbook, “Strange and Quiet Odours from Within the Eggs of Imagination.”

Anjalica Solomon

Anjalica Solomon is a lover of flea markets, poetry slams, and water colouring. When she’s not making a digital archive of random hair ties on the ground you might catch her actually looking up to observe her surroundings! She recently published her first poetry chapbook called Looking within the Labyrinth this past March. recently she has been writing song and tunes on her new loop pedal with Mariah Dear as part of a musical poetic duo, Velveteen Queens!

Charity Ywaya

Charity Ywaya has hobbies which include Netflix (with or without the chill), sleeping, working out and unsurprisingly poetry. Charity is a member of this year’s 2017 youth slam team.

DF Parizeau

Cursed by the ghost of William Carlos Williams, DF Parizeau is a Vancouver based writer who, after living in the city for nearly six years, still does not own an umbrella. Fueled by a mixture of bourbon, a gentle dose of insomnia, and cat cuddles, he can usually be found around Vancouver, diligently collecting raindrops as part of his online poetry project, “the eavestrough diaries”, under the pseudonym Les Mots Manquants.

Elisha

Elisha is a small elf from Dallas, Texas. Sometimes he writes poetry and it’s nice.

Emma Field

Emma Field is a spoken-word artist that hopes to coax the tormented and playful parts of her audiences out into the open. She is currently Vancouver’s Youth Grand Slam Champion and was a member of the 2016 championship team of Hullabaloo, BC’s Provincial Youth Poetry Festival. Her compass runs on good vibes so she hopes you’ll send some her way.

Erin Kirsh

Erin Kirsh is a Vancouver-based writer and performer. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Malahat Review, Arc Poetry Magazine, EVENT, PULP, and Geist, where she took second place in their Postcard Short Story Contest. Erin is a 2-time member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam team, and in 2016, she was the Managing Director of Verses Festival of Words. Erin recently won The Molotov Cocktail’s 2017 Shadow Award.

Mariah Lynne Dear

Mariah Lynne Dear is a majestic woman who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is a poet, a fiction writer, a feminist, a nanny, and a writing workshop facilitator. Since her spoken word poetry debut at age seventeen, she has travelled across Canada competing both individually and as a team representing the city of Vancouver. You can find out what Mariah is currently working on by clicking here.

Matt Loeb

Matt Loeb is a passionate spoken word artist whose funny, nerdy, and brutally honest poetry has been showcased across Canada. A finalist at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam in 2014 and 2017, he is currently ranked 6th in country. Matt is one of only 3 Canadian poets to complete the Slam Poetry Century Challenge of writing and performing 100 different poems at poetry slams events, without repeating once. Matt has published two spoken word albums In The Duck and Enough Has Happened and his nerd themed poetry has been featured on i09.

Minlyn Chen

Minlyn Chen is a poet with a passion for rhythm, rhyme, and the Oxford comma. He was a member of the 2017 championship team for Hullabaloo, BC’s Youth Spoken Word Festival. He loves wordplay and hopes you do too.

Mitcholos

Mitcholos is an indigenous Spoken Word artist, videographer, and writer. He moved from the tiny village of Hitacu in Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ x Nuučaan̓uɫ territory, to Coast Salish Territory in 2015.

Nadia Alikashani

Nadia Alikashani is a poet, painter and procrastinator who loves to make impacts and connections with others through spoken word and other forms of art.

Tiny Tricycle Poets

The Tiny Tricycle Poets, made up of three internationally and locally recognized individuals that that have competed and performed all over Canada. Together, they are made up of a provincial team slam champion, a national team slam champion, and a Bacon Slam Champion.They have shared the stage with artists, instrumentalists, clowns, and politicians, provoking thought and feelings with their weird, Canadian poetry.

UBC Slam Team

The UBC Slam Team, made up of Angelica, Anjalica, Mariah, Victoria and Jamie are here to wow you with all the wonders of brains, relationships, stretching and beyond. Watch their group poems and feel the taste of bagels enter your mouth.

Victoria Fraser

Victoria Fraser is writer, cartoonist and student at UBC. She writes about the little things in her life, like coconut milk, swing dancing, and moss. Sometimes, if you are lucky, she will make a comic about you. Especially if you fall off a sailboat and befriend a harbour seal.

Johnny D Trinh

Johnny D Trinh is an interdisciplinary and spoken word artist. Exploring the use of music, video, social media, movement, theatre, and creative technology- Johnny’s practice integrates the multi-layered realities within which we exist to create immersive spoken word experiences. Johnny’s pedagogy is rooted in the constant goal of fostering a sense of empowerment, agency, and compassion through socially engaged, community based art. He creates opportunities to support marginalized communities cultivate their voice: “Pass the mic, or silence the future.” Johnny D Trinh is an award-winning playwright, and author of several chapbooks. Johnny’s first audio album #undeniable is available through his website: johnnydavidtrinh.com

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